


Superstes Culpam

by The_ship_that_wont_sink



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Breakfast, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-09-05 17:41:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16815400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_ship_that_wont_sink/pseuds/The_ship_that_wont_sink
Summary: An epilogue, of sorts, to 'The Witchfinders'.In which team TARDIS have breakfast after their latest adventure, no one likes muesli, and the last few weeks have taken a toll on Yaz perhaps more than she is letting on.This is just fluff mostly, with a little bit of angst thrown in because I can't not!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because I'm firmly aboard the Thasmin ship at this point! The way that Yaz gives the Doctor those heart eyes in, like, every other scene just makes me die!
> 
> I am new to Doctor Who though, so please forgive any inconsistencies there might be (in what little story there is) 
> 
> Also, one-shot for now, but hopefully I will add to it at some stage...

“So, you and the King then, ey Ryan..?”

Yaz needled her friend good naturedly, laughter in her voice, as they all trudged back into the TARDIS after their latest adventure in Seventeenth Century Lancashire; weary but elated.

“Oi, shut up you!” He retorted, looking down; feeling somewhat sensitive about the topic.

“He certainly took a shine to you Son.” Graham chimed in.

“Yeah you were well in there!” Yaz outright laughed.

“Didn't you fancy taking the King up on his offer Ryan?” The Doctor asked with sincerity, clearly oblivious to the fact the others were teasing him.

She was already moving around the console, hopping from place to place, hitting buttons and pulling on levers. Doing her little dance, Yaz thought fondly, watching the woman. In seconds the TARDIS began to rumble, and the floor beneath their feet vibrate. Lights flashed here and there, and quiet beeps and whirrs sounded out. The noises that, to Yaz at least, were beginning to sound like home.

“Err, no.” Ryan answered, pulling Yaz's attention away from the Doctor. “Not really my type.”

“That’s a shame.” The Doctor hummed earnestly. “Though he was a bit obsessed with Satan. Can’t trust a man who's obsessed with Satan... Or a woman, come to think of it... No, definitely not good enough for our Ryan.” She proclaimed, and Ryan beamed, shooting Yaz a pointed look, like he had just got one over on her.

The Doctor pulled a final lever, and the juddering of the ship calmed, settling down into a peaceful and steady thrum.

“There we go, that’ll do for now,” she announced, more to herself than anyone particular. Then she looked up, grinning round at them all. “Right gang, what’s for brekkie? Witchfinder General, your turn to decide, what’ll it be?”

“Ah yeah, I’m starvin’.” Ryan said, enthusiastic now the subject had apparently been changed.

“Right, erm... Well I normally just go for a bowl of muesli these days. Grace always used to get on at me for eating unhealthy, sort of ruined my enjoyment of fry-ups.”

“Urgh, no!” Ryan exclaimed with distaste, “ _Muesli_!”

“Ryan’s right, muesli is a bit boring Graham... might even have to deduct some points for that!” The Doctor agreed chirpily, as the three of them began to move away in the direction of the kitchen.

Yaz stood behind for a moment, watching them bickering to and fro like a proper little family, her own smile wide and firmly in place. The air of exuberance they had at having defeated the mud aliens – or whatever they were called – and saving the village, made her feel light, almost giddy. She knew it was partly relief, after their last two adventures had ended so tragically... Her smile dimmed ever so slightly, and she quickly put that thought away, not yet ready to give up her current happiness to those darker reflections.

Almost to the corridor, the Doctor suddenly stopped in her tracks and spun around, as though she might have just sensed her companion’s thoughts.

“Y'comin’ Yaz?” She questioned, brow slightly creased as she gave the younger woman a long look that Yaz could feel deep inside her.

“Yeah, course.” She replied, making her way toward the Doctor. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

The Doctor’s gaze lingered a moment more, and then a thousand mega-watt smile broke out onto her face, as though Yaz had just done something truly amazing and not just agreed to come to breakfast, and Yaz couldn’t help but return it wholeheartedly.

“Brilliant. Breakfast isn’t the same without Yaz! Oooh... Did I ever tell you about the time I had breakfast with Tiffany eh Yaz...?”

***

Breakfast turned out to be pancakes. Great, fat, golden American style pancakes. As many as they could eat, and complete with all kinds of berries and fruit, maple syrup, whipped cream, and – much to Ryan’s delight – crispy streaky bacon; all lovingly prepared by the TARDIS, who apparently didn’t think too much to the idea of muesli either. Something had pinged on the side, and then the Doctor had opened some kind of hatch, to reveal their mouth-watering feast. Even Graham couldn’t pretend to be upset that his suggestion had been ignored.

The Doctor’s eyes lit up at the sight of the food as they carried the plates to the table.

“Ah my wonderful TARDIS. Always looking after us...” She gushed fondly, stroking the wall.

“Er, maybe we should leave you and the room to... umm... get a room!” Ryan guffawed, and the Doctor stuck her tongue out at him. Graham and Yaz couldn’t help but join in the laughter at their antics, before all of them were piling their plates high with the food.

Yaz eyed the bacon longingly. It wasn’t exactly like she was a good Muslim, or really practicing at all to be fair, but then old habits die hard, and she could hear her Nani's voice in her head, chiding her, and she bypassed it in favour of the berries and syrup.

“I don’t even know the last time we ate anythin’.” She commented, before taking a huge bite of pancake and savouring the taste.

“I ooow, ooo ong” Ryan spat everywhere as he tried to comment.

“Oi, manners Ryan, don’t speak with your mouth full.” Graham scolded his grandson, who managed to look abashed even as he stuffed another forkful of food into his mouth.

Yaz sniggered and then promptly started to choke on her own mouthful of food, until the Doctor produced a glass of water from somewhere and she managed to get her coughs under control. Face red from the spluttering and embarrassment in equal parts.

“I did have that apple back when we arrived in Bilehurst... very nice it was too... organic... much better fruit back in those days...”

The conversation flowed easily between the four companions, and Yaz felt content and at ease. The Doctor was telling one of her stories. Yaz had managed to lose the thread of the tale some time ago, but was happy to just sit and watch the Doctor; how animated her face became, how excited she was, just like a kid on the first day of holidays, and Yaz – as so often happened – found she couldn’t take her eyes off the woman.

Out of nowhere, a vision flashed through her mind. A memory; vivid and real. A young girl looking up at her with wide watery eyes. A necklace that was no replacement for a father who wouldn’t be coming home. The food in her mouth suddenly felt inedible, like she was chewing on dirt, and she didn’t think she would be able to get it down at all.

She felt guilty, like enjoying herself and having fun was somehow a betrayal. That she could have forgotten about them so quickly and easily. The daughter without a father, and the wife without a husband. All that she might survive...

The wave of self-loathing crashed over her, and she could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage and blood rushing in her ears, drowning out the conversation around her.

She closed her eyes, and with a supreme effort swallowed the mouthful of soggy pancake. When she opened them again, Graham and Ryan were laughing at whatever it was the Doctor had just said, but the Time Lord herself was looking straight at Yasmin, a slight frown furrowing her brow, in an expression of concern and perhaps a tinge of upset that Yaz hadn’t found the joke amusing.

“Everything alright Yaz?” The Doctor questioned, her voice soft.

Their eyes locked then. Yaz could almost feel the other woman's probing gently, and she squirmed under the scrutiny and broke the contact.

“Yeah...” She found her voice, thankful it came out steady and sure – good old police training. “Fine. Think I might've overdone it on the pancakes though.” She forced a laugh and inwardly cringed at how hollow it sounded.

“Ah man – me too!” Ryan groaned from his place next to her.

Yaz felt a surge of warmth towards her friend, inwardly thanking him for inadvertently backing up her story as well as drawing the attention away from her.

“See, I told you...” Graham was saying in that sagely way he had... “muesli is the way forward!”

Ryan chose that moment to yawn loudly.

“I’m proper knackered me. When was the last time we actually slept anyway?”

“Too long" Graham replied, stifling a yawn of his own. “Well, think I might hit the hay, as they say – if you don’t mind me leaving the washing up Doc?”

“Yeah, me too...” Ryan added, jumping up out of his seat clumsily. “If you don’t mind?” He added almost sheepishly.

“Course not boys. Reckon you deserve some rest after all that.” The Doctor smiled at them kindly as they started to leave the room, mumbling their goodnights as they went.

“How bout you, Yaz? You not tired as well?” The Doctor turned her attention to her remaining companion.

Yaz was tired. Exhausted in fact. Even before their mammoth twenty-four hours straight on their latest adventure, she had been struggling to sleep. She'd toss and turn, seemingly for hours, and when she did finally get to sleep nightmares plagued her dreams.

“No. I mean, well yeah... I suppose...” Yaz awkwardly stumbled over her words. “Thought you might want a hand clearing up?” She finished, grabbing a couple of the plates from the table, before realising she had no idea what to do with them. Did the TARDIS have a dishwasher?

The truth was she didn’t particularly want to be on her own right then. Didn’t want to think about laying in bed with no distraction from the darkness running through her head.

And, secretly, she liked the opportunity to be alone with the Doctor. It was such a rare occurrence. Sure, the Doctor sometimes teamed them up on adventures, but that wasn’t really the same, not when they were so often running for their lives, or when the Doctor was busy thinking through the latest problem at a million miles a second and Yaz was just trying to seem useful... but when it was just the two of them together in these quiet, in-between times; those were the times that Yasmin cherished. Not that she didn’t enjoy spending time with the others too, because she did, she loved it. But the Doctor was... something else. It had been very early on she had realised that she always wanted more time with the other woman; in fact, that she couldn’t get enough. Sometimes she even managed to glean little tid-bits of information about the Time-Lord, things she thought only she might know. Like how she thought her favourite food might be fish fingers and custard.

_“What? At the same time??”_

_“Yeah. Maybe... Not sure actually"_

The Doctor had responded, scrunching her face up with the effort of trying to remember.

Or how she had told a giggling Yaz about her first experience trying to work out how to pee in a woman’s body... apparently more confusing than it might seem when you had spent all your many previous lifetimes as a man.

But it was the way the Doctor looked at her that Yaz loved above all else. With a look that seemed to say so many things, to impart the wisdom of the entire universe, just to Yaz. The way that she would look at her, with her full, undivided attention, and for a moment, the world would just... stop. The way she would look at her, as if Yaz really was special.

“Aww, thanks Yaz.” The Doctor gave her one of her huge grins, that Yaz couldn’t help but return. “Not much to do though, really. Just put it all back in the hatch and She deals with it. Usually. I think?” Her friend's smile wavered a little with her confusion.

Yaz briefly wondered what it must be like. To rely on vague memories in your head; that are yours while not really belonging to you at all. To have to trust that they won’t lead you astray.

She also realised that this was only the second time they had eaten food prepared by the TARDIS, and the first time they had to rush out and deal with some intergalactic crisis, and by the time they got back the evidence they had ever had a meal had completely vanished, to the point none of them remembered there had even been washing up to do.

“Guess we’ll give it a go.” She found herself almost reassuring the ancient alien. “If it’s still there later we can let the boys deal with it!” She joked and the Doctors grin widened once more, as they set to work on the dishes.

“What about you, Doctor? What are you gonna do now?”

“Oh...” The Doctor seemed surprised that she'd been asked. As though Yaz didn’t permanently want to know the slightest details of her life. “Not sure really. Maybe some tinkering?”

Yaz resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The Doctor was always tinkering. It must be her favourite pastime. And it didn’t always end well, she recalled with more fondness than the memory probably deserved.

“Maybe you should have a shower?” Yaz spoke before her mind filtered what she just said, and a blush began to creep up her face at the realisation.

“Oi, cheeky.” The Doctor put on a mock affronted face, complete with a cute little pout.

“No offense Doctor, it’s just that you have been dunked in minging lake water _twice_ in the last day!”

The TARDIS chose then to let out a handful of bleeps and bloops, sounding very much like an agreement.

“Sounds like She thinks so too!” Yaz laughed and the TARDIS bleeped once more.

“I can’t believe you two are ganging up on me!” The Doctor exclaimed. “Think you might be right though actually.” She conceded, sniffing at herself experimentally and crinkling up her nose at the smell.

There was a lull in the conversation then, both women stood across from each other round the now clean table. Yaz shuffled her feet, aware that was probably her cue to leave, and yet still reluctant. Briefly she wondered if the Doctor might also be reluctant, given that she too hadn’t made a move to depart, before quickly dismissing the notion as ridiculous.

When she started to feel awkward at standing around trying to make the appropriate amount of eye contact with the Doctor – and you know when you start to think about what _is_ the appropriate amount, that it has probably been too long – she decided it was time to say goodnight.

“Well...” She began.

“Yeah" The Doctor chimed in, looking up suddenly and meeting Yaz's eyes.

“I should probably, y'know... try ‘n’ sleep...” She gestured off vaguely down the corridor.

“Right. Sleep. Yeah.” The other woman agreed eloquently. “Very important that. Can't have Yaz fallin' asleep halfway through our next adventure!”

Yaz nodded, tiredness and apprehension warring within her.

“Goodnight Doctor... Thanks for brekkie, TARDIS.” She didn’t quite know where to look to address the ship, and so settled on the point where the wall met the ceiling. The ship blooped pleasantly in response.

The Doctor seemed to be doing a good impersonation of the Cheshire Cat, and her eyes were filled with glee as though Yaz had just complemented her herself on the breakfast.

“Yaz...”

She was almost to the door when she heard the Doctor speak her name, softly, and she turned back around to face the other woman.

The Doctor was looking at her, intent, but also unsure, and the smile from mere seconds before had almost completely slipped from her face. For a moment she didn’t say anything further, just stared at Yaz with those timeless eyes. And then she looked down, seemingly fumbling for something to say, and the spell was broken.

Yaz raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.

“... Good work today.” She smiled up at Yaz through her curtain of hair, and the young police officer got the distinct impression that wasn’t what the Doctor had planned to say at all.

She smiled back nonetheless, and with a little wave of her hand that had her inwardly cringing, turned and left the room, feeling the Doctor’s eyes following her as she went.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new day, and a new adventure for team Tardis.
> 
> Some shenanigans and general silliness, and of course; angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided I would continue this story...
> 
> It'll probably be 4 chapters, with this chapter setting the scene but otherwise being pretty nothingy (is that a word??) and the next getting into the plot/action of the story. 
> 
> Truthfully, I don't think it's my best work, but it is what it is, and I hope you enjoy it anyway.
> 
> Finally, just a quick thanks/shout out to Saralancealotz, for acting as something of an unofficial beta, and for the general all round encouragement!

The minute Yaz was alone in her room, out of the warm glow that being in the Doctor’s presence always gave her, all remnants of sleep dissipated.

She was tired, her body was telling her she needed sleep, and desperately. But her mind refused to rest. She felt sick, and was sure it had nothing to do with the large portion of pancakes she had just eaten.

There was a painful lump blocking her throat as she tried to force back the tears she could feel building behind her eyes. Tears she refused to let fall.

She didn’t know what was wrong with her. Why she couldn’t move on or find peace. Maybe it was her penance. Maybe she didn’t deserve to move on. After all, Dan would never move on, never again see his daughter’s smile, or the look of love in her eyes. Prem would never move on, would never get the life he deserved, live the happiness he fought so hard to achieve. One pointless death amongst millions.

Of course she knew that, strictly speaking, Prem hadn’t died to save her. Not really. But the Doctor could _so easily_ have intervened. Could, with little more than a flick of her screwdriver, have changed his fate. He could have survived. And her Nani could have had the husband she had wanted. But the Doctor hadn’t. She had decided that Yaz's life was worth more than Prem's... And that weight was almost too much to bear.

She sat up in her bed and drew her knees up to her chest, trying to protect herself against the painful truth. A lone tear escaped the corner of her eye and she scrubbed it away harshly with her fist.

Suddenly Yaz felt angry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to help people. This was supposed to be her way of making a difference.

The Doctor had warned her - warned them all - that it would be difficult, that it would be dangerous. That they would be changed. But she didn’t expect... She didn’t think she would feel like _this_. She thought if there were changes they would happen slowly, over time, so that they barely realised they had changed at all. Not that she would be sat there, only a few weeks in, crying alone in her room, afraid to close her eyes and see the accusing faces of the people she had failed... She never thought anyone would die for her.

Or perhaps she just hadn’t thought at all.

She couldn’t let the others find out she was struggling like this. And if the Doctor found out she was so weak she would undoubtedly send her home. The thought of that happening crushed Yaz even more.

She just needed to hold herself together. _To be strong_. She was a police officer, for goodness sake, she ought to be able to handle a little stress. She just needed to make sure that their lives weren’t given in vain. She needed to start doing what she came here to do.

And most importantly, no one else was going to die in her place.

***

  
Yaz awoke some time later. Her eyes felt like sandpaper and there was a dull but insistent pounding in her head.

There was no way of knowing what time it was aboard the TARDIS, or how long she had slept; not long at all by the feel of things. She remembered tossing and turning, a thousand thoughts churning through her mind. Voices in her head telling her she wasn’t good enough; the bullies at school, her sister, her superior officer. _Herself_. She supposed at some stage she must have fallen asleep, but the weariness she had felt was now all the heavier.

Still, no point trying to sleep any more now. And a part of her feared that she had already slept too long. That the others were already up and off on their next adventure without her. That thought spurred her on, and she swung her leaden limbs out of bed and moved across the room.

She showered quickly. The hot water feeling good against her skin. Cleansing. She could have stood under the steaming flow a lot longer than she permitted herself, allowing her worries to float away with the water swirling down the drain. But still, when she made her way down the corridor of the TARDIS, she felt a lot more like herself.

The sound of laughter drew her towards the console room. The Doctor’s voice standing out over the others, laced with amusement, and her words coming fast, almost tumbling out over themselves, as had a habit of happening when the woman came across something new – or indeed old – that would fill her with wonder.

“Amazing! Get the initial propulsion and rotation just right and it could be going for an indefinite amount of time. Well, proportional to the gravitational field... Obviously. Wonderful engineering this... Right. Come on Graham, your turn now.”

“I think I’ll give it a miss if it’s all the same to you Doc. Don’t really get the fascination to be honest. Now in my day we had yo-yo's, and I was never any good at that either.”

“Seriously, you can’t be worse than me. Coordination ‘n’ all that...” Ryan lamented.

Yaz could see that her three friends were gathered around some kind of object, though she couldn’t quite make out what it was. Something small that fit snugly into the palm of the Doctor's hand as she tried, unsuccessfully, to coax Graham into having a turn using whatever it was. Probably something really cool and alien.

The moment Yaz set foot into the room, the Doctor spun round to face her, a wide smile lighting up her features. Her disappointment over whatever Graham was refusing to do all but forgotten.

“Yaz! There you are!” She exclaimed, bounding over to her young companion, her eyes studying the other woman’s face intently. Whatever she found there causing a hint of confusion to creep onto her features. “ ‘Ave you been asleep..? You don’t look like you’ve slept.”

Yaz, unprepared for the sudden inquisition, opened her mouth; about to lie and say that she slept just fine, thank you very much. But she was saved the trouble as the Doctor distracted herself once more with her excitement.

“Yaz, you ’ave _got_ to see this... wha’d’ya call it Ryan? A widget mincer?? It’s amazin’!” The Doctor flashed the small object under Yaz's nose.

Yaz couldn’t help but giggle at the Doctor's antics. “It’s called a fidget spinner, Doctor.”

“Oh! You know about it too? Well whatever it’s called... It’s bloody brilliant! Want to see a trick Yaz?”

“You can do a trick already? Thought you’d never seen one before!”

“Quick learner, me. Well d’ya..? Want to see one?”

“Um... Yeah, I suppose.” Yaz wasn’t particularly convinced that a fidget spinner trick would be all that impressive; even if it was the Doctor performing it. But then the Doctor’s beaming smile melted her insides and she decided it was worth it.

Behind the Doctor, Ryan groaned. “Eugh. Don’t encourage her...”

“Oi! A little more enthusiasm from the back there please.” She scolded, but threw a wink at Yaz so she knew the Doctor was joking. “Ready for this..?”

Yaz nodded her head, grinning.

The Doctor whipped her hand violently a couple of times to get the thing spinning, and placed it on the tip of her index finger. As it spun little lights flashed on in different colours. Then, with a quick glance to Yaz, she threw it up from her finger and into the air.

“No. Way.” Ryan mumbled at the same time that Yaz gasped in wonder.

Instead of falling back down onto the Doctor’s hand like it should, the fidget spinner was hovering in the air, just above the Doctor’s head. The lights reflected in the Doctor’s eyes seemed almost to be doing some mischievous dance of their own, and Yaz found herself mesmerized. And then, gracefully, the spinner slowly descended, as though being pulled by some unearthly magnet, and the Doctor caught it on her finger, and closed her hand around it.

The Doctor grinned smugly as she took in the astonished faces of her companions. She even did a silly little bow.

As she watched the other woman, something hit Yaz in the chest. Not something physical, but a realisation, and it felt as heavy and as solid as a punch. She could no longer imagine her life without the Doctor in it. Couldn’t imagine waking up in the morning and knowing that she wouldn’t see this wild, wacky alien. Couldn’t imagine even one day without feeling the warm glow from a smile, or getting lost in the stars in her eyes. She was totally, and utterly, addicted. And although she suspected this wasn’t an entirely new feeling, she had never felt it as assuredly and as sincerely as she did in this moment.

“Told ya. Amazin’.” Her eyes flitted from Yaz to Ryan to Graham, then back to Yaz again, perhaps waiting for someone to agree.

“Yeah. That was... incredible.” Yaz shook off her momentary stupor. “So, where we going today anyway Doctor?”

“Ah, good question there Yaz. Let me see... hmm... how about a total solar eclipse in 18,226 B.C.?”

“Wait a minute... Isn't that during the last ice age?” Graham sounded sceptical.

“Very good Graham. Although technically Earth is still in an ice age, just that it’s in a period of interglacial warming... Very interesting; ice ages. Anyway, I’ve always fancied watching a solar eclipse during one. All that ice and snow, makes everything crisper and brighter and even more amazing. If we're lucky we could even see some shadow bands!” The Doctor bounced over to the console; in her excitement all but ready to start pulling levers to transport them to the deep and distant past.

“Um, right... Thing is Doc, it’ll be a bit cold, won’t it. Maybe we could go somewhere a bit warmer?” Graham shuffled uncomfortably, clearly feeling bad at ruining the Doctor’s excitement.

“Yeah, or wouldn’t it, y'know, be easier to just visit an eclipse that’s happened recently in the North Pole or somewhere?” Yaz added, and the Doctor just stared at her with a furrowed brow, as though the suggestion would never have occurred to her at all.

“Yeah, but we'd still be cold Yaz.” Graham pointed out.

The Doctor dragged her eyes away from Yaz to look at the oldest of her companions.

“Oh... Okay, well if not there, then where?” The Doctor muttered to herself, something of a doleful look on her face as she racked her brain to come up with somewhere good. It took only moments for her face to light up in glee once more.

“Got it! Prandium 3. Nice little world, balmy sort of atmosphere you should like Graham. And I could pick up a component to fix the DITO while we’re there... Bloody thing’s been on the blink for ages. Never know when it might come in handy.”

“The what?” Asked Yaz, feeling, as usual, like she was struggling to keep up with the Doctor’s chain of thought. Luckily, looking round at the other's, none of them seemed any the wiser as to what the Time Lord was talking about.

“Defence Indefinite Timeloop Option.” The Doctor pronounced proudly, as though that made it any clearer. At seeing the matching blank looks on the faces of her companions, the Time Lord continued. “It, erm, allows the TARDIS to sort of skip forward in time, by approximately a millisecond. Think of it like the ultimate hiding place in a game of hide and seek. Got me out of trouble more than once. Really finicky bit of hardware though...always breaking.”

As she spoke she whirled around the console once more, tapping buttons, spinning hourglasses and pulling levers. And with a final stamp on the old custard cream button, the time machine whirred to life. Yaz could feel the energy pulsing through the walls and floor, and detected the minute adjustments of the columns in front of her.

As the TARDIS began to lurch beneath her feet, Yaz instinctively reached out to grab onto the centre console to steady herself. She brushed the Doctor’s hand with her own as she grasped the railing, and felt a blush rise to her cheeks. But when she looked up there was fire in the Doctor's eyes; the thrill and enjoyment, and pure adrenaline she clearly gets from piloting the TARDIS somewhere new, evident across her face, and Yaz felt a matching wild grin slide onto her own...

***

Prandium 3, it turned out, was a moon world – one of seven – orbiting a great gas giant in the Cassiopeia system. Its surface area was about a third of the size of earth, but it’s atmosphere and climate was remarkably similar. The civilisation was somewhat more advanced than that of earth, but not ‘mind-bogglingly’ so for the human travellers – _Thanks_ Doctor.

The people – humanoid in appearance – had always been remarkably focused on sustainability and the conservation of their world. Their main energy source was the gravitational winds coming from the nearby planet, and they had constructed a complex series of interconnected ‘gravity farms’ on the uninhabited neighbouring moons which they harvested for use on Prandium 3. Despite the fact that they had the technology for, at least, local space travel, they rarely ventured out beyond the moons, preferring to keep to themselves. That’s not to say that the place didn’t attract visitors, and the trading ports were a great place to find unusual technology.

Yaz stepped out of the TARDIS, as always, with a look of awe on her face as she took in this new world. Behind her, Ryan and Graham wore matching expressions.

“It’s weird, it’s like my body's all light.” Ryan commented with wonder in his voice. As if to prove his point he jumped high into the air, his feet reaching almost as high as Yaz's head off the ground.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you Ryan. Don’t want to lose you off into the atmosphere.”

Ryan looked appropriately disturbed by the Doctor’s gentle admonishment.

“So what, the gravity here is less than on earth?” Yaz deduced, airing her thoughts out loud. She agreed with Ryan, her body felt almost weightless compared to normal.

“Yes Yaz! Brilliant!” The Doctor praised her companion, and Yaz felt a blush heating up her face and couldn’t help the small smile that the Doctor’s words conjured. She quickly looked down hoping no one had noticed.

“Is it safe?” She asked, reflecting on the Doctor’s previous words to Ryan.

“Yasmin Kahn! What do you take me for? Of course it’s safe! Do you think I would bring you somewhere that wasn’t safe..?”

Graham, Ryan and Yaz all opened their mouths to respond at the same time.

“Wait. On second thoughts... Don’t answer that.” The Doctor cut in before anyone else had chance to speak. “There’s really only the smallest difference in the gravitational pull here and on earth. Just stick to the ground and you’ll be fine.”

“So... what now then Doc? I don’t mean to be funny, but there doesn’t seem to be a right lot here.”

Looking around, Yaz saw that Graham was right. They had landed in some kind of meadow, with grass brighter than any she had ever seen before. There was a few trees and flowers, which gave off a lovely scent that floated in the air, and from somewhere Yaz could hear the unmistakable sound of water flowing. All in all it was lovely and peaceful, the perfect place for a picnic, but not much in the way of adventure. And it certainly didn’t seem the type of place the Doctor could find some futuristic technology.

“Hang on! Let me just get me bearings!”

The Doctor walked over to the nearest tree and sniffed at it experimentally, attracting the attention of her companions. Yaz caught Ryan’s eye, and he just raised his eyebrows, like - this is what they had come to expect from the Doctor now. Yaz had to stifle an urge to giggle.

And then Yaz's mouth went dry as she watched the Doctor thrust her tongue into an indent in the tree, and start lapping at something thick and sticky. Her hands grasping the tree trunk either side.

Yaz wasn’t sure if she made the sort of strangled gasp noise aloud, if it was in her head, or if, perhaps, either Graham or Ryan had made it. She had enough awareness to know that her mouth was hanging open, but not enough of her faculties to remember how to close it. She felt her entire body instantly heat up, and a throbbing pulse shot straight to her core.

Oblivious to what she had just done to Yaz, the Doctor finally removed her tongue from the tree, and scrunched her face up in thought.

“...that can’t be right...” She mumbled to herself, scraping some more of the sticky sap out onto two of her fingers, and then placing the fingers in her mouth to lick it off.

Yaz almost groaned out loud. This definitely wasn’t any better. She suspected that sleep wouldn’t be any more forthcoming tonight than it had been, though for entirely different reasons. Out of the corner of her eye she could swear she saw Ryan shoot a look in her direction, but she couldn’t drag her eyes away from the Doctor long enough for her to decipher it.

“No! It is!” The Doctor exclaimed loudly, startling Yaz back to her senses. “Or isn’t, I should say. We’re late. Later than I wanted anyway.” She said in something of an explanation.

Yaz didn’t know if her brain was still partly cotton wool, because she had no idea what the Time Lord was going on about.

“Why've you brought us here then eh?” The Doctor asked to a silent TARDIS.

“What? Are we not where we're supposed to be then?” Graham asked, worried.

“Well, we are _where_ we're supposed to be, just not _when_ we're supposed to be. About a hundred years later, by my reckoning... Oh well, might as well have a look around while we’re here. Let’s get going team.” The Doctor supplied cheerily. The Doctor always seemed cheery when things went wrong.

“Um, going to where?” Ryan asked sceptically.

“Oh right. Yeah. There’s a city just over that hill. It’s made to blend in to the natural environment... makes it really difficult to see unless you know it’s there. Really interesting place this actually...” The Doctor set off towards the invisible city, barely pausing for breath as she explained all about the technology the people use to hide the architecture.

Finally pulling herself together, Yaz fell into step beside the Doctor, desperate not to miss out on anything the Time Lord said, despite the majority of it going over her head.

But somewhere deep in the pit of her stomach, she felt the faint stirring of nerves beginning to build.


End file.
